Parliament disrupted, opposition targets Chidambaram (Lead)

New Delhi, May 8 (IANS) Both houses of parliament were disrupted Tuesday morning as the opposition raised the pitch over the alleged role of Home Minister P. Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis deal when he was finance minister.

The upper house saw two adjournments, first for 10 minutes and then till 12 noon, while the Lok Sabha was straightaway adjourned till noon as opposition members demanded a probe in the home minister’s alleged role in the deal.

Main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the home minister of delaying permission for the sale of Aircel to Malaysia-based Maxis in 2006 when he was finance minister so that his son Karthi was financially benefited.

BJP MPs in both houses raised slogans demanding a probe and they were joined by the AIADMK. As uproar continued in both houses, the respective presiding officers ordered brief adjournments.

As soon as members assembled in the morning in the Lok Sabha, some BJP frontbenchers rose to protest, demanding suspension of question hour to discuss the issue.

The speaker first tried to restore peace in the house asking protesting MPs to go back to their seats. As the MPs intensified their protests, Meira Kumar adjourned the house till noon.

Opposition MPs cited Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy’s allegations that Chidambaram had delayed permission for the sale of Aircel to Malaysia-based Maxis in 2006 when he was finance minister so that his son, Karthi, was financially benefited.

“The BJP is going to raise the matter very seriously in both the houses. The government is not coming with true facts pertaining to the deliberate delays in the Aircel-Mexis deal because of the interest of then finance minister. We want a reply from the government in parliament,” said BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.